Transatlantic Transcendentalism: Coleridge, Emerson, and Nature

Description

The first book devoted to Coleridge’s influence on Emerson and the development of American TranscendentalismAs Samantha C. Harvey demonstrates, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s thought galvanized Emerson at a pivotal moment in his intellectual development in the years 1826-1836, giving him new ways to harmonize the Romantic triad of nature, spirit, and humanity. Emerson did not think about Coleridge: he thought with Coleridge, resulting in a unique case of assimilative influence. In addition to examining his specific literary, philosophical, and theological influences on Emerson, this book reveals Coleridge’s centrality for Boston Transcendentalism and Vermont Transcendentalism, a movement which profoundly affected the development of modern higher education, the national press, and the emergence of Pragmatism. Key FeaturesIlluminates how the emerging field of transatlantic studies has opened new circulatory spaces to reconsider the relationship between Coleridge and EmersonAsserts Coleridge as the single most important influence on Emerson’s early essaysExamines the centrality of nature in the dynamic context of Transatlantic RomanticismHighlights the essential but overlooked legacy of Coleridge’s dynamic principles of method for Emerson and for Boston and Vermont Transcendentalism